Database Users

Custom mode, recovery access, possible exploit location?

Apologies if similar has been posted, but a cursory search didn't turn up anything.
Earlier today, I was playing Out There ( a great little space RPG) and my display, for lack of a better word, crashed. Lockscreen worked, etc. Anyway, being lazy and not wanting to strip off my otterbox for a batter pull, I decided to try to do a hardware reset. I ended up holding down every hardware button on my handset until my phone rebooted. It immediately jumped into the boot options and did a factory reset (goddammit). However, upon rebooting, the boot screen was slightly changed: It showed an unlocked padlock and the word "Custom" above the galaxy logo. It rebooted a couple times, and after the second reboot lost the "custom" logo; it then resumed normal operation. Knowing that we lack a root method to play with, I thought I'd try to figure out what I did to get to that screen, so I tried the "mash all the buttons approach". I've now ended up in recovery mode, and I am being greeted with the following:
Android System Recovery <3e>
KOT49H.G900VVRU1ANCG (I presume this is my handset's software version or something similar)
<Typical reboot, update through ADB/external storage, wipe data, wipe cache options, along with something interesting: Apply update from cache>
Below the menu, there is an output area with this:
# Manual Mode #
-- Applying Multi-CSC...
Applied the CSC-code: VZW
Successfully applied the multi-CSC
What, exactly, am I looking at, and what just happened? I highly doubt that my uneducated flailing somehow unlocked the encrypted bootloader, but perhaps something interesting happened that can be repeated to perhaps provide a better attack surface for exploit probing. Any thoughts from the more talented out there?
EDIT: Just wanted to add, as much as I want to use my phone, I won't be messing with it until I know that I've just found something that's already known about. Don't want to lose the opportunity to help the rooting search along.

FelixAurelius said:
Apologies if similar has been posted, but a cursory search didn't turn up anything.
Earlier today, I was playing Out There ( a great little space RPG) and my display, for lack of a better word, crashed. Lockscreen worked, etc. Anyway, being lazy and not wanting to strip off my otterbox for a batter pull, I decided to try to do a hardware reset. I ended up holding down every hardware button on my handset until my phone rebooted. It immediately jumped into the boot options and did a factory reset (goddammit). However, upon rebooting, the boot screen was slightly changed: It showed an unlocked padlock and the word "Custom" above the galaxy logo. It rebooted a couple times, and after the second reboot lost the "custom" logo; it then resumed normal operation. Knowing that we lack a root method to play with, I thought I'd try to figure out what I did to get to that screen, so I tried the "mash all the buttons approach". I've now ended up in recovery mode, and I am being greeted with the following:
Android System Recovery <3e>
KOT49H.G900VVRU1ANCG (I presume this is my handset's software version or something similar)
<Typical reboot, update through ADB/external storage, wipe data, wipe cache options, along with something interesting: Apply update from cache>
Below the menu, there is an output area with this:
# Manual Mode #
-- Applying Multi-CSC...
Applied the CSC-code: VZW
Successfully applied the multi-CSC
What, exactly, am I looking at, and what just happened? I highly doubt that my uneducated flailing somehow unlocked the encrypted bootloader, but perhaps something interesting happened that can be repeated to perhaps provide a better attack surface for exploit probing. Any thoughts from the more talented out there?
EDIT: Just wanted to add, as much as I want to use my phone, I won't be messing with it until I know that I've just found something that's already known about. Don't want to lose the opportunity to help the rooting search along.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very curious indeed. There have been other posts about 'Custom' mode, from changing to ART from Davlik, but not like this. I am glad I read the whole thing, and not just wrote it off as 'another one of those duplicate threads'. *fingers crossed* for you my friend. I really hope this takes it somewhere as I am itching to get root! lol

Yes....I tried flashing SU from recovery mode. All I got was E: verification signature failed.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

sd_N said:
Yes....I tried flashing SU from recovery mode. All I got was E: verification signature failed.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity sd_N, did your phone behave exactly like this one when you tried it?

kprice8 said:
Out of curiosity sd_N, did your phone behave exactly like this one when you tried it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All it did was say E: signature verification failed. Then it rebooted as normal.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

From what I have gathered, things on the system partition are changing.
When you do a factory reset like that you are writing the csc to the system partition again which triggers the unlocked image on the boot screen.
Enabling ART will also cause it to happen.
Nothing exploitable there unless you can find a way to write your own data to system, which is the trick

[Q] At my wits end

tl;dr phone is in some kind of bootloop, tried flashing stock firmware (successful but can't get past start splash screen), plz halp me
So I was just simply browsing on my phone on reddit is fun app, some Google Chrome sites, and 9gag. So then I saved a gif on 9gag and the phone just gives up on me. It went straight to shut down without any warning whatsoever and proceeded to restart. Thinking that it was just an unusual one time thing, the phone kept rebooting and I started really getting worried. I kept getting the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen and after that a black screen and then it vibrated twice and I saw the splash screen again. Didn't even get to see the menu for SafeStrap. After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally accessed SafeStrap after restarting the phone from download mode pressing the volume down button. To make as much precious time as I had, I made a backup (although I checked enable compression which I shouldn't have but I didn't have a lot of space on my SD card) and made an advanced wipe cleaning everything except the SD card. I then proceeded to flash a different custom ROM (GoldenEye if you were wondering) and hoped that it was just a custom ROM error that kept giving bootloops. No such luck. The different ROM didn't even help. So I went back to SafeStrap and made another advanced wipe. At this point, I decided to flash stock firmware via Odin from this link (http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-att/general/guide-odin-to-stock-updating-rooting-t2926642) with NB1 base. I remember having flashed the non-rootable version successfully and restarted the phone after that. Got past the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen and went all the way to ATT splash screen but then it crashed right there. After that, I couldn't figure out the problem and I couldn't flash any more stock firmware (at least from that link) via Odin because I kept getting a fail notice. I asked this question on reddit and the responses kept saying that I may have a defective power button but it doesn't stay shut down and instead bootloops. Should I try to find a new GS4, get another phone or try sammobile firmwares next to see if there's any luck? I really need to save this phone as it is super dear to me. I'm at the point where I can cry right now :crying:
If you guys need any pictures or videos, I will be more willing to do so

RawSynergy said:
tl;dr phone is in some kind of bootloop, tried flashing stock firmware (successful but can't get past start splash screen), plz halp me
So I was just simply browsing on my phone on reddit is fun app, some Google Chrome sites, and 9gag. So then I saved a gif on 9gag and the phone just gives up on me. It went straight to shut down without any warning whatsoever and proceeded to restart. Thinking that it was just an unusual one time thing, the phone kept rebooting and I started really getting worried. I kept getting the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen and after that a black screen and then it vibrated twice and I saw the splash screen again. Didn't even get to see the menu for SafeStrap. After several unsuccessful attempts, I finally accessed SafeStrap after restarting the phone from download mode pressing the volume down button. To make as much precious time as I had, I made a backup (although I checked enable compression which I shouldn't have but I didn't have a lot of space on my SD card) and made an advanced wipe cleaning everything except the SD card. I then proceeded to flash a different custom ROM (GoldenEye if you were wondering) and hoped that it was just a custom ROM error that kept giving bootloops. No such luck. The different ROM didn't even help. So I went back to SafeStrap and made another advanced wipe. At this point, I decided to flash stock firmware via Odin from this link (http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-att/general/guide-odin-to-stock-updating-rooting-t2926642) with NB1 base. I remember having flashed the non-rootable version successfully and restarted the phone after that. Got past the Samsung Galaxy S4 splash screen and went all the way to ATT splash screen but then it crashed right there. After that, I couldn't figure out the problem and I couldn't flash any more stock firmware (at least from that link) via Odin because I kept getting a fail notice. I asked this question on reddit and the responses kept saying that I may have a defective power button but it doesn't stay shut down and instead bootloops. Should I try to find a new GS4, get another phone or try sammobile firmwares next to see if there's any luck? I really need to save this phone as it is super dear to me. I'm at the point where I can cry right now :crying:
If you guys need any pictures or videos, I will be more willing to do so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say try redownloading the firmware and make sure your cable is good, try a back USB port, etc. I'd guess the firmware files didn't download properly and so it didn't flash properly. Before you do anything though, try going into stock recovery and wiping everything you can from there.

DeadlySin9 said:
I'd say try redownloading the firmware and make sure your cable is good, try a back USB port, etc. I'd guess the firmware files didn't download properly and so it didn't flash properly. Before you do anything though, try going into stock recovery and wiping everything you can from there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply. As for the firmware, where should I acquire them? The link I posted has only one firmware (NB1) and I cannot access stock recovery AT ALL. When I do, I can see the blue text in the corner "Recovery booting..." and then the phone restarts again. This is really frustrating

RawSynergy said:
Thank you for the reply. As for the firmware, where should I acquire them? The link I posted has only one firmware (NB1) and I cannot access stock recovery AT ALL. When I do, I can see the blue text in the corner "Recovery booting..." and then the phone restarts again. This is really frustrating
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NB1 is the only one you can get, just try downloading either one again.

DeadlySin9 said:
NB1 is the only one you can get, just try downloading either one again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did twice today and I keep getting the same message in Odin, like setting up a connection and then it fails

RawSynergy said:
I did twice today and I keep getting the same message in Odin, like setting up a connection and then it fails
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you plug in the phone in Download Mode, does the blue box in Odin light up? If not, reinstall samsung drivers
Sent from my SM-N910G using Tapatalk

[Q] sgh 1337 UN stuck on Samsung splash screen (safe strap broken)

So, I have gotten myself in a bit of a pickle I however think I can get out of it by sideloading using EXT. SD, Im not sure what to flash to solve the dillemma however. So this is the situation. I have a (had) a rooted Galaxy s4 (sgh-i337 ucufnc1) with 4.4.2 android. It had safestrap installed and back ups of everything else in sd card and other locations just in case. The phone was acting buggy, so I formatted the phone with safestrap, the problem persisted, ill get into the issue a bit further down. So I booted back into safestrap, and did a complete wipe, however my sd card must've bumped out, because it didnt delete any media files or so it said, and then after the wipe it crashed. and refuses to boot into safestrap or even past the splash logo. I can get into download mode, but usb debugging isnt on anymore since i wiped it, I can get into the other mode as well ( cant for the life of me remember the name of it atm although i use it frequently) with some luck. I also happen to have all .md5 files from a backup i did about 4 months ago in tact, I cannot for the life of me get them to convert properly to apply them to the phone without safestrap however, if anyone has any insight to this please let me know also.
I can/will list any other information I have if anyone needs it, and if anyone can help it would safe a life!
The reason i reformatted it to begin with, was because media would stall, and when i plugged in the audio jack it'd freeze the entire app using it, then the whole phone would freeze. I believe it was due to lucky patcher but im unsure. The issue began when I altered the auto update file, and even after i rectified it, it persisted. At this time i have a phone soft bricked because it didnt delete all the media files and I assume something bugged onto the kernel image but Im not sure. If I can simply try to restore it to stock kernel then im fine with that.

Ghujii said:
So, I have gotten myself in a bit of a pickle I however think I can get out of it by sideloading using EXT. SD, Im not sure what to flash to solve the dillemma however. So this is the situation. I have a (had) a rooted Galaxy s4 (sgh-i337 ucufnc1) with 4.4.2 android. It had safestrap installed and back ups of everything else in sd card and other locations just in case. The phone was acting buggy, so I formatted the phone with safestrap, the problem persisted, ill get into the issue a bit further down. So I booted back into safestrap, and did a complete wipe, however my sd card must've bumped out, because it didnt delete any media files or so it said, and then after the wipe it crashed. and refuses to boot into safestrap or even past the splash logo. I can get into download mode, but usb debugging isnt on anymore since i wiped it, I can get into the other mode as well ( cant for the life of me remember the name of it atm although i use it frequently) with some luck. I also happen to have all .md5 files from a backup i did about 4 months ago in tact, I cannot for the life of me get them to convert properly to apply them to the phone without safestrap however, if anyone has any insight to this please let me know also.
I can/will list any other information I have if anyone needs it, and if anyone can help it would safe a life!
The reason i reformatted it to begin with, was because media would stall, and when i plugged in the audio jack it'd freeze the entire app using it, then the whole phone would freeze. I believe it was due to lucky patcher but im unsure. The issue began when I altered the auto update file, and even after i rectified it, it persisted. At this time i have a phone soft bricked because it didnt delete all the media files and I assume something bugged onto the kernel image but Im not sure. If I can simply try to restore it to stock kernel then im fine with that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE: I resolved the issue, by rooting, safestrapping, ripping the image files, from another galaxy s4 with alike descriptions. then i managed to side load it, then it booted properly, i then reformatted it completely back to 100% factory everything. Now my original problem persists, and i cant help feel that google services is causing it. (examnples of issues" proccess.gapps has stopped. anotrher process error code. phone calls can be made, but not recieved as it seems the server is too busy to n otice it, massive battery drain, audio takes several seconds to play, while video continues to play fine, audiojack is mostly unresponsive, phone calls that are made cannot recieve or send audio during call session, phone may freeze at unlock screen, or any time during operation, may even reboot from process overloading" now keep in mind. i removed every system file and app that the natural reformat will allow. so nothing applied by the user is on the phone, other than natural factory applications. Im digging a bit into the phone as i can but its a slow process whenit starts freezing. if anyone has any idea of what can be causing this, or how to fix this please inform me lol.

Ghujii said:
UPDATE: I resolved the issue, by rooting, safestrapping, ripping the image files, from another galaxy s4 with alike descriptions. then i managed to side load it, then it booted properly, i then reformatted it completely back to 100% factory everything. Now my original problem persists, and i cant help feel that google services is causing it. (examnples of issues" proccess.gapps has stopped. anotrher process error code. phone calls can be made, but not recieved as it seems the server is too busy to n otice it, massive battery drain, audio takes several seconds to play, while video continues to play fine, audiojack is mostly unresponsive, phone calls that are made cannot recieve or send audio during call session, phone may freeze at unlock screen, or any time during operation, may even reboot from process overloading" now keep in mind. i removed every system file and app that the natural reformat will allow. so nothing applied by the user is on the phone, other than natural factory applications. Im digging a bit into the phone as i can but its a slow process whenit starts freezing. if anyone has any idea of what can be causing this, or how to fix this please inform me lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The best solution must be installing the stock firmware via odin. Since you are on NC1 , You can installed the stock NB1.
Here is guide explaining you using odin, installing NB1, root with towel root, updated NC1, install the safestrap. The guide was not specifically written for that but you can find those steps in the guide.

I will attempt to do this, since nothing since has work. I am about to get a new logic board for the system in the next 2 weeks. Towel root DOES typically work on this system, however the last time I attmpted it it failed to work outright. Im not sure what has changed with the device, but i believe reflashing stock is the best method. The phone now, will boot up, then skip the lock screen and go straight to the home screen, which is black with no pull down bar, or with no signal and there is no way to rectify it. Even if there were, it boots back down and launches back up and becomes locked at the ATT logo.
After a fair bit of messing with it, and recovery mode it will sometimes boot normally where it tells me that processes has failed and askes me to cancel the ''app''. This is the best option to update the phone and attempt root, but getting it here is so difficult because it reboots itself and the mode is rare to acquire. This problem either is due to the kernel, or the rom i believe. I also am to believe the powercell may have some issue, as i replaced the battery a few weeks back and it worked fine for about 1 week.
Booting into safemode doesnt work either as it skips over the lock screen straight to the home screen. Outsidce of replacing the logic board, or attempting another flash im at the end of the short rope i was already on in terms of options.

sway8966 said:
The best solution must be installing the stock firmware via odin. Since you are on NC1 , You can installed the stock NB1.
Here is guide explaining you using odin, installing NB1, root with towel root, updated NC1, install the safestrap. The guide was not specifically written for that but you can find those steps in the guide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE: I found therein two methods to flashback to stock. I did so, then proceeded to attempt to flash from nb1 to nj4. Progress stopped there when it flung an error 7 at me. So this means either something in my phone is corrupted or the file i downloaded from the above mentioned forum is corrupted. I also attempted flashfire, but seen as it STILL crashes at random due to process errors thats almost impossible to attempt.

ATTEMPT OF ROOT spiral into Madness

Original thread "https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/root-op5-twrp-dissaster.742632/"
Video of current STATUS "https://youtu.be/GBWbid59f1E"
Current state of my problem -- STUCK in a screen at Drive Screen "an empty modal opens" Also looking for -- OnePlus 5 OxygenOS 4.5.15 rom --
OP5 EUROPE (if this helps to know what kind of phone I got, I know there are some differences in countries, dont know if it happens with OP specifically)
Currently trying to fix this using:
twrp-3.2.1-0
OnePlus5 Oxygen 4.5.15
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After reading plenty of other Threads with similar problems, I am clueless of whatelse to do but to exhibit how I disgraced my phone in hopes for somebody to help me.
I know I am 100% guilty of all that happened but I still somehow hope to get help.
Now the proper what happened.
After the purchase of some apps that seemed to encourage me to root my phone from Android Store, to get more features, I decided to give it a go.
So I got myself:
twrp-3.1.1-0
The Rom from Cyanogen
SuperSu v2.79-20
Granted myself access to booting and usb debugging after becoming a developer (granted by the university of tap your phone screen like a monkey smashing buttons, I figure this is even an inside joke from actual Devs)
I followed a tutorial that said next thing was installing twrp and stuffing my rom and my super su in my phone after rooting it, here is when things turn dark after installing the rom.
I saw my data was wiped and thought I had erased its memory, and instead of just putting back the things that I had to install I clicked on another tutorial of a had that had a similar problem (I can provide links later if requested).
In this tutorial the person, said that I should go to Advanced Settings -- WIPE and try and reformat my SYSTEM and my DATA, (heres when I wish my future-self would have come and stopped me because after this it all spiraled into madness)
After this happened my phone said I had no OS, so I didnt know what to do, I had no idea, I tried recovery mode but there was nothing to recover.. , I tried plenty of things really. reformating, downloading more ROMS , when I tried to install any of this Roms a new surprise awaited for me, my phone didnt know it was a OnePlus5 anymore it decided asume a misterious identity now he was " " instead.
I googled this, and a guy had a work around in wich I had to go into the rom and into the META-INF --COM -- google -- android -- updater-script
and inside this very archive delete the script that validated wich phone I had, this solution wouldnt work with any rom I had because they all said "updating the img was unsuccesful" at this point I was asking myself only one thing "WHAT IMAGE?!?!" a second ago there was no OS at all and now there was an image to update?.
I kept trying roms until one worked the stable official version, now I managed to install the rom rebooted, to find that the OS seems to have been installed, but.. when I introduce my pin things begin guetting funny again...
My SIM doesnt seem to be recognized its called "Slot 2" and when I enter the pin it and "SWIPE UP" as the phone suggests it gets stuck at a panel called "Drive".
I am guessing I am having an issue with the drivers but this is only a guess, I really have no Idea how to fix this, I tried to look up if somebody else was strugging with a FREEZE at DRIVE.
but it seems that nobody else fell into the spiral of foolishness I did, please help me find a way into a solution.
When I try to recover from the phone and install from "internal storage" doesnt allows me as there was no such thing.

use codeworkx twrp

Use a Keurig and just breathe

try flashing a twrp recovery. then boot to recovery. then push via adb a recent oneplus rom. then install the rom. then reboot to system and see if it is working.

Samsung tab S2 SM-T819 will not boot

I bought a used Samsung tab S2 with a working Lineage 17 already installed.
I tried to install stock ROM using ODIN.
The ODIN process seems to work fine; I get a "PASSED" in green in ODIN, but the tablet will not boot. Immediately after the "PASSED" in ODIN, the tablet displays "updating system", then "erasing" for about 20 seconds, tries to reboot, but hangs at "SAMSUNG" screen and will not boot.
I've tried several stock ROMs from from different sources.
I'm not sure about the Android terminology, but I think I can get into "boot" mode, but not "recovery" mode on the tablet.
I'm not familiar with a lot of the terms with tablets/phones, so learning by doing. However, I've successfully flashed many computers(Windows >Linux), Enigma 2 receivers, (much easier process), stick a USB stick in and go. I'm surprised the process of flashing a new ROM on Android devices is not more simplified, or less involved.
Thanks for any help.

I had this issue once, it was after I enabled 'Update Recovery' in Developer Options on LOS 17.1, it's "update the built in recovery with system updates" thinking it was a good idea but after it updated the first time it would boot-loop or hang, cant remember but it wouldn't get to the OS anymore so I had to re-flash it, but I was getting this problem. I remember it all being a mini nightmare at the time, I believe I had to find a PIT file to repartition it. I don't understand how it got so severely busted but I stayed right away from that option since then and the LOS 17.1 has been really great.
I had a similar type thing years back going from 1 type of OS to another, I didn't realise they used different file systems and I had similar issues when trying to fix my mess. Learning then about how different ROMs can depend on completely different file systems taught me that if things are really bad and you can't even flash a stock rom with Odin, then finding and flashing the PIT file is basically guaranteed to fix the issue. It's super rare that this type of thing happens though, so I tend to forget about crazy experiences like watching my new OS delete itself immediately after installing it, I forget about the techniques and tricks, I tend to swear and panic and chase my tail for a while before eventually working it out.